Monday, December 6, 2010

A great day for rich, dark chocolate cake....Laura Secord 70% Chocolate Yule Log

Since it’s Monday afternoon and my daughter is napping quietly and peacefully (sigh), I thought it was a good day to forget about tasting chocolate bars and go for the heavy stuff. And by ‘heavy stuff’ I do mean rich, wonderful, dark chocolate cake.I eat a lot of cake regularly, since I am in the business of making gourmet cakes, as well as chocolate. However, I do not often have the privilege of sitting down and eating a full piece of cake, particularly one that was not made by me.It is not because I avoid tasting cakes made by other pastry professionals (I’m all about sampling the competition), nor is it because I am watching my weight. It is simply because I am one of the only professionals in the area who makes cakes – especially cakes made with high quality chocolate and natural ingredients. This really is a rural area that I live in.

And so, (sigh #2) my cakes are always being given away to customers and I rarely have time to make an extra cake and eat it all by myself.I have come to accept that I am destined to just eat various components of cake - just the cake shavings when I have to level a cake (which is not often anymore) and the buttercream icings, truffles and ganache to ensure they are up to my standards.So I do eat a lot of cake, just not a whole piece at a time.

So when I came across a Laura Secord 70% chocolate Yule log cake in the freezer section of the grocery store the other day, I just couldn’t resist.I am not that keen to buy Laura Secord chocolate because I think it is a bit too commercialized and their dark chocolate a bit too sweet (although they have been adding some better dark chocolate bars to their product line lately in the 70% cacao and above range).However, I read the ingredients and thought….firstly, Mmmmm…and secondly, this looks okay. They used 70% dark chocolate, real cream instead of hydrogenated oils like most grocery store cakes, and butter, flour and eggs pretty much made up the rest of the ingredients list.Plus, it was a wonderful rolled cake filled with dark chocolate mousse – who can resist that?

Now that it is thawed and I’ve tasted it while writing this post, I have to say that I think it is great.It’s very rich – I tried to eat nearly half the Yule log in one sitting, but could barely get through one-eighth of the cake since it was so rich. It tastes fantastic paired with a large glass of warm skim milk. So I’d like to say a big thank-you to Laura Secord for giving me a blissful 10 minutes of enjoyment with a full slice of wonderful chocolate mousse cake.

On a side note: if you are in the Ottawa area and love really rich dark chocolate cake, go to Thyme & Again on Wellington Street in Westboro and buy a slice of their Chocolate Paradise cake – it’s my all-time favourite!An irresistible combination of dark chocolate, cream and a little bit of cake layered in between will warm your heart.I have never seen such thick layers of chocolate ganache in and surrounding a cake before.They should have called it the “dark chocolate lovers you’ll be in heaven” cake – but I suppose “Paradise” sums it up too.

May your day be filled with great cake too! And may tomorrow bring you - and I - more chocolate.

About Me

I am on a mission to taste all of the world's best chocolate, and to share what I have learned with you! As a chocolatier, pastry professional and business owner with an obsession for tasting new kinds of chocolate daily, and with creating something new in my commercial kitchen every week, I can share all sorts of tips, tricks and techniques for 'chocolatiering', bean-to-bar chocolate making, and for baking. Join me on this journey for recipes, reviews, and chocolaty gift ideas by way of my chocolate blog (www.ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.com), my facebook page (The Ultimate Chocolate Blog), twitter (@ultimatelychoc) or Intagram (@ultimatelychocolate).
And be sure to check out the web site of Ultimately Chocolate, my chocolate and pastry business (www.ultimatelychocolate.com) in Canada. Oh, and I LOVE to make Piecaken and share my recipes at www.piecaken.blogspot.com.